{"id":90081,"date":"2018-04-21T13:20:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=90081"},"modified":"2018-04-20T12:28:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T16:28:15","slug":"state-agriculture-commissioner-announces-500000-to-expand-community-based-agriculture-across-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=90081","title":{"rendered":"State agriculture commissioner announces $500,000 to expand community-based agriculture across the state"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bill Magee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"State agriculture commissioner announces $500,000 to expand community-based agriculture across the state<\/strong><\/p>\n

Projects will improve access to fresh, wholesome foods, promote community engagement, and enhance agricultural education opportunities; builds on state\u2019s commitment to end hunger statewide and create more growing spaces in high-need communities<\/em><\/p>\n

State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball today announced $500,000 is available through the Community Growers Grant Program to develop and enhance community gardens, school gardens and urban farms across the state. These growing sites play a fundamental role in the fight against hunger while supporting proper nutrition, educational opportunities and community engagement. Recognizing the significance of these benefits, Commissioner Ball consulted with the New York State Community Gardens Work Group in developing this grant program to provide resources for the continued growth and sustainability of these growing spaces.<\/p>\n

Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair, Assemblyman Bill Magee, said,\u00a0\u201cThese exciting programs give folks the opportunity to grow fresh food in their own neighborhoods and school gardens, and to cook, eat and take pride in the sharing of the harvest while learning about farming, nutrition, and community stewardship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity growing sites may be small in comparison to the average-size farm, but they can be just as powerful,\u201d\u00a0Commissioner Ball said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThey are not just great sources of fresh, healthy foods, they are a dynamic tool to combat hunger in underserved communities, beautify neighborhoods, build community pride and boost awareness of the importance of agriculture and environmental stewardship.\u00a0 This grant program is an opportunity to extend these substantial benefits to thousands of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Community Growers Grant Program was created as a strategy to improve food security by providing funding to ensure the viability and success of community growing spaces.\u00a0 Currently, there are more than 1,000 community, school and urban gardens throughout New York State.\u00a0 Many serve a critical need in communities with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

Despite an increasing number of community growing spaces in both urban and rural areas, there remains a lack of available resources and capital to support these plots.\u00a0 While limited funding from not-for-profit organizations has helped meet basic needs, additional support is crucial to building capacity and infrastructure to meet the high demand for these locations statewide.\u00a0 The Community Grower grants will help address these needs by providing up to $25,000 per eligible project.<\/p>\n

The funding is available through a competitive application process.\u00a0 Eligible applicants include not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions and government entities.\u00a0 All applications must be submitted through Grants Gateway\u00a0here<\/a>. The deadline to apply is\u00a0May 21, 2018.<\/p>\n

More information about this grant program, including the Request for Proposals, is available on the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets website at\u00a0https:\/\/www.agriculture.ny.gov\/RFPS.html<\/a>. For questions, contact\u00a0Meg.McCabe@agriculture.ny.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This grant program complements the Department\u2019s ongoing efforts to provide technical assistance to community growing organizations statewide.\u00a0 Through its\u00a0Community Garden Program<\/a>, the Department helps identify\u00a0vacant public land for community gardening purposes, connects\u00a0community groups and state or local agencies to facilitate the use of vacant properties for community gardens, and directs\u00a0gardeners to resources in their communities.<\/p>\n

Senator Jeffrey Klein said,\u00a0“Community gardens are a great way to provide New Yorkers with locally grown, healthy fruits and vegetables. In low income areas, where it can be difficult for residents to access fresh produce, they are especially important. I’m proud that this year we were able to expand this program and I hope that more people will apply for this grant so that we can continue to see its growth.”<\/p>\n

Ending Hunger in New York State<\/em><\/p>\n

Since Governor Cuomo took office in 2011, the state has implemented several programs, policies and legislation to bring hunger relief to thousands of New Yorkers.\u00a0\u00a0In 2016, Governor Cuomo created the\u00a0New York State Council on Hunger and Food Policy<\/a>\u00a0to establish a\u00a0permanent focus on fighting hunger in New York.\u00a0 The Council\u2019s mission is to identify new policies and programs that enhance the state\u2019s efforts to improve nutrition and the availability of fresh, locally grown foods for New Yorkers living in communities with limited access.<\/p>\n

Most recently, the Governor unveiled a five-point plan to provide students of all ages greater access to healthy meal options.\u00a0 The\u00a0\u2018No Student Goes Hungry\u2019<\/a>\u00a0initiative expands the State\u2019s\u00a0Farm-to-School<\/a>\u00a0 program, increases reimbursements for schools that source at least 30 percent of their food from New York farms, bans lunch shaming, expands access to free breakfast, and requires food pantries on all SUNY and CUNY campuses.<\/p>\n

In addition, the State has expanded its\u00a0FreshConnect Checks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Farmers\u2019 Market Nutrition<\/a>\u00a0program to bring more fresh, local foods to underserved communities and increase the buying power of SNAP recipients.\u00a0 The state has also developed procurement guidelines to assist state agencies in purchasing local foods and invested $15 million to build a state-of-the-art Greenmarket Regional Food Hub in the South Bronx.<\/p>\n

The Department of Agriculture and Markets operates the\u00a0Great New York State Fair<\/a>, and administers the\u00a0Taste NY<\/a>\u00a0initiative, the\u00a0FreshConnect<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0New York State Grown & Certified<\/a>\u00a0programs. Follow the Department on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State agriculture commissioner announces $500,000 to expand community-based agriculture across the state Projects will improve access to fresh, wholesome foods, promote community engagement, and enhance agricultural education opportunities; builds on state\u2019s commitment to end hunger statewide and create more growing spaces in high-need communities State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball today announced $500,000 is available through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23679,23814,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agfarming","category-state","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Ag-Markets.jpg?fit=336%2C134&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-nqV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}